Israel-Hamas conflict live updates: Israeli army steps up Gaza Strip ground operations; US strikes Iran-linked sites in Syria

As supplies of virtually every basic human necessity dwindle in the Gaza Strip, one group in the besieged enclave remains well-stocked: Hamas.

Arab and Western officials say there is substance to Israeli claims of Hamas stockpiling supplies, including desperately needed food and fuel. Hamas, they say, has spent years building tunnels under the strip where it has amassed stores of virtually everything needed for a drawn-out fight.

It is a reality that Israel may soon find itself grappling with if it makes good on its threat to invade Gaza.

Hamas has hundreds of thousands of litres of fuel for vehicles and rockets; caches of ammunition, explosives and materials to make more; and stockpiles of food, water and medicine, the officials said.

You can continue reading that story here.

Journalists inside Gaza who were able to communicate with the outside world said there was intense Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza overnight and early Saturday.

“The raids were very intense from artillery shelling and air raids. There is an explosion, gunfire and clashes are heard on the border,” journalist Mohammed Abdel-Rahman told The Associated Press.

They heard sounds of clashes Saturday morning on the western borders of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza and “artillery shelling from time to time, intermittent and not continuous,” Abdel-Rahman said.

Another journalist, Anas al-Sharif, reported shelling close to the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia and said rescuers have retrieved wounded people and many bodies from rubble across northern Gaza.

Israel’s military also announced Saturday it had struck and killed a top Hamas naval operative, Ratib Abu Tzahiban, who it says orchestrated an attempted naval attack in Israel on Oct. 24. It was unclear if the military was referring to an episode when a group of Hamas divers were repelled after trying to infiltrate Israel on a beach north of Gaza.

AP

Hamas pledged to confront Israeli attacks with “full force” after Israel’s military widened its air and ground attacks on the Palestinian enclave, suggesting on Saturday that a long promised ground offensive had begun.

Israel said on Saturday morning its troops, sent in on Friday night, were still on the ground. The country had earlier made only brief sorties into Gaza during three weeks of bombardment to root out Hamas militants who killed more than 1,000 Israelis on Oct. 7.

“The forces are still in the field and continuing the war” Israel,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a news briefing on Saturday morning.

Gaza was under an almost complete blackout, with internet and phone services cut for more than 12 hours by Saturday morning. Telecoms firms and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it was the result of Israeli bombardments.

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the blackout was “making it impossible” for ambulances to reach the injured in Gaza.

“Evacuation of patients is not possible under such circumstances, nor to find safe shelter,” he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The spokesman for the Israeli military says Israel is expanding its ground operation in Gaza with infantry and armoured vehicles backed by “massive” strikes from the air and sea.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Saturday that “the forces are still on the ground and are continuing the war,” AP reported.

Earlier Saturday, the military had released videos showing columns of armoured vehicles moving slowly in open sandy areas of Gaza, the first visual confirmation of ground troops. Previously, troops had conducted brief nightly ground incursions before returning to Israel.

Reuters reported the Israeli military had entered northern Gaza overnight and expanded military operations in the besieged Palestinian enclave as it steps up its assault on the Hamas militant group.

An Israeli military spokesperson said Israeli forces were still “in the field”, without elaborating.

The spokesperson added that Israel would allow trucks carrying food, water and medicine to enter Gaza on Saturday.

Reuters, AP

The Israeli military released grainy images Saturday of tank columns moving slowly in open areas of Gaza and said warplanes bombed dozens of Hamas tunnels and underground bunkers, signalling a further escalation in its campaign to crush the territory’s ruling militant group after its bloody incursion in southern Israel three weeks ago.

The first visual confirmation of the presence of ground troops and the heavy bombardment of underground targets were a new sign that Israel is moving closer to an all-out invasion of Gaza.

In recent days, ground troops have staged brief nightly incursions before returning to Israel. It was not immediately clear when the images released Saturday were taken and whether the tanks would eventually move deeper into Gaza.

AP

It is mid-morning on Saturday in Israel and news of exactly what happened overnight is still filtering through, Bloomberg reports:

Israeli troops are pursuing operations inside the northern Gaza Strip, a day after authorities said they would extend ground activities in the Palestinian enclave, army radio reported.

Israel said that it’s expanding military activity in Gaza, as the strip lost internet and telephone service and international agencies lost contact with staff there. The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution calling for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce” in the conflict.

Troops are pursuing operations inside the northern Gaza Strip, a day after Israel said it would extend ground activities in the Palestinian enclave, Israel Defense Forces Radio reported, without giving further details. The IDF didn’t respond to a request for comment on the current presence of ground forces in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Iran began two days of exercises on Friday in its central Isfahan province involving helicopters, missiles, drones and artillery.

Iran’s army is carrying out military drills, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. The two-day “offensive” exercises started on Friday in the central Isfahan province and involved more than 200 helicopters as well as missiles, drones and artillery, according to Tasnim.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has warned that new fronts would open against the US if it continues its unequivocal support for Israel.

The Pentagon said US attacks on Iranian targets Thursday night were focused on storage facilities for weapons and ammunition used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and resulted in no casualties.

“These narrowly-tailored strikes in self-defense were intended solely to protect and defend US personnel in Iraq and Syria,” Brigadier General Pat Ryder, a Defense Department spokesman, said in a statement.

Bloomberg

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is out of touch with its staff and health facilities in Gaza, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The blackout is also making it impossible for ambulances to reach the injured,” Tedros said.

“The evacuation of patients is not possible under such circumstances, nor to find safe shelter,” he said.

Reuters